Mini-Dictatorship

Weeks before President Javier Milei visits France, scrutiny has grown around an Argentina-run university residence in Paris supposed to promote peaceful coexistence but which activists say instead restricts lodger freedoms and hosts European far-right figures. Paris city officials have demanded the foreign ministry investigate Argentina House.

"The house used to be a space for community, culture, and art. Today it's a space of fear, control, surveillance, cameras," said an Argentine who lived there during the last academic year. Residents told AFP their access to common areas such as the lounge or the outdoor barbecue had been restricted. They claimed constant fear drove them to speak in whispers inside the house, with its director frowning on topics such as LGBTQ rights and the forcibly disappeared during Argentina's 1976-83 military rule.

Far-right meetings

Various reports have emerged of far-right figures holding meetings in its rooms. Two think tanks linked to the far-right in Poland and Hungary in November were in Argentina House to present a plan to dismantle much of the European Union. In May, it hosted a meeting against euthanasia in Europe.

The Cité Universitaire campus, set up after World War I as lodgings for youth to form lasting connections across the globe, hosts around 12,000 students of some 150 nationalities. Argentina House has welcomed generations of learners since 1928, including Argentine-French novelist Julio Cortázar. Paris city hall has requested an investigation before Milei visits Paris in late September.